LINER NOTES TO "A VERY OLD SONG" by HARVEY REID

This is a collection of new tunes and songs that combine the flavors of traditional music with images, style and feelings that are personal to me. These are songs of people and places in my life; of love, freedom, smoky taverns, bumpy highways, jealousy, growing old- things I think we all feel. These are songs that should sound right when you sing them in the kitchen with just your guitar, and I feel lucky that some of my closest friends who have played so much great music in my kitchens over the years are the gifted musicians who helped me on this recording. I hope that some of the great pleasure I derive in playing and singing with them shows through. (July 1984)

CREDITS
Harvey Reid guitars, autoharp, lead vocals
Brian Silber violin, viola
Lynn Rothermich harmony vocals
ROBBIE FLINT pedal steel AL PETTEWAY bass RON FREELAND percussion
AKIRA OTSUKA mandolin RICK WATSON piano, guitar vocals

Arrangements, Production, Engineering, Mixing: Harvey Reid, Brian Silber
All Lyrics: Harvey Reid
Guitars: 1974 Gallagher, Gibson B-45 12-string, Dobro resonator
Autoharp: 1973 Oscar Schmidt 21-chord Appalachian
Violin, Viola: by the Holzapfel family of Baltimore, Maryland
Design & Graphics: Duane Bohlman

(^) A Third Hand Capo was used on the guitar on tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10. (Standard tuning) For information, Contact http://www.partialcapo.com
(All selections CP 1979-1982by Harvey Reid. (Quahog Music, BMI) All rights reserved.
This recording was engineered at TRACK Studios (Silver Spring MD) by Ron Freeland, with Neumann mikes, Neve console, an Ampex 16-track recorder, Dolby A & EMT plate reverb.

1) Dreamer Or Believer (H. Reid)(3:15) Written to be a duet with 2 voices and two guitars, it also makes a fine bluegrass song. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1990]

2) I Will Learn To Love You (H. Reid)(3:52) The only recording of this love song.

3) Raspberry Reel (H. Reid)(2:26) The only recording of this tune. A rare flatpicking cut by Harvey, and a nice original fiddle tune.  [out of print]

4) Slipped Through My Hand (H. Reid)(3:31) Only vocal recording of this song. This first appeared as a guitar instrumental on #101 LP, and was re-recorded on #105 Solo Guitar Sketchbook. It was always a song, and the instrumental grew out of the guitar breaks on the song. Harvey is playing his B-45 Gibson 12-string. [(original recording, re-released in 2002 on CD #116]

5) Suite In F- Part 1 (H. Reid)(2:03) Played on Harvey's 1975 Gallagher mahogany guitar, with a capo on the 1st fret and a partial capo in Esus. Written in 1982, this was the first piece of music written for the Esus partial capo configuration, and this is the first recording of it. A transcription appears in the book called Sleight of Hand. It was re-recorded on Solo Guitar Sketchbook, using the Taylor 810 guitar. Harvey plays rhythm autoharp on Part 3 of this version. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1989]

6) Suite In F- Part 2 (H. Reid)(2:03) Played on Harvey's 1975 Gallagher mahogany guitar, with a capo on the 1st fret and a partial capo in Esus. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1989]

7) Suite In F- Part 3 (H. Reid)(2:33) Played on Harvey's 1975 Gallagher mahogany guitar, with a capo on the 1st fret and a partial capo in Esus. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1989]

8) All Or Nothing (It's Up To Me) (H. Reid)(3:15) Harvey plays lead guitar and lead autoharp and trades licks with Robbie Flint, who has been Alan Jackson's pedal steel player for many years. They were playing in a band together in Virginia in 1980. This is to date the only cut with a drum in Harvey's catalog. [(original recording, re-recorded in 2002]

9) Cryin' Shame (H. Reid)(4:00) Written in the midwest in 1980, during an extended visit to Illinois. Harvey plays 3 guitars on this-- a fingerpicked rhythm/lead, a flatpicked rhythm, plus a lead slide guitar. Quite a different feel from the other recordings of this on #106 and #112. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1986, then again on 2011]

10) The Flower Of Loudoun County (H. Reid)(4:14) The first recording of this. Harvey lived in Virginia for a few years in the early 1980's. Recorded vocal + autoharp, with overdubbed fingerpicked guitar. [(original recording, re-recorded in 2003]

11) Johnny The Fisherman (H. Reid)(3:21) Ron Freeland played drumsticks on the Neve console for rhythm. Originally written in 1979 after a trip to Newfoundland, it started out as new words to the Little Beggarman, and then got its own melody. One of the only examples of a guitar technique Harvey developed, using a 12-string played like a melodic banjo. The solos on Part 1 of this song are done this way, with rhythm autoharp. The instrumental part is another rare flatpicking cut, with a rhythm guitar overdubbed. [re-released in 1990]

12) A Very Old Song (H. Reid)(4:53) Written for Brian Silber for St Patrick's Day in 1982, it arrived a capella one dark night on the Pennsylvania turnpike going from Ohio to Virginia. Gallagher guitar. Possibly the first song written in Esus capo configuration. Played with fingerpicks in Esus with a Third Hand Capo, later versions (#112 & 126) are played bare-finger in Eb, with Shubb Esus capo, which allows a different V chord. A very early celtic song, pre-dating the celtic music revival by quite some time. [(original recording, re-recorded in 1998, and again in 2010]

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